Monday Mischief: Toilet Paper Rolls are Tasty

Toilet Paper Roll Demolition

Phase 1

Two

Phase 3

Phase 4

Demolition Complete

What's your Monday Mischief??

P.S.  I am doing much better.  They are monitoring me for Addison's disease.  I am also on a new allergy free food. Bark with you soon.  My thanks goes out to all of my furiends that gave me suggestions.  I did have a blood panel run and they did run a urine test.  There is a new parasite here in Kansas they are going to test for.  Anyway...my food is staying down.  That's a step. 

Kootenai

Tuesday Talk: It will have to wait till next Tuesday

 

Hi Furiends.  I know I haven't blogged in an entire week.  I feel terrible about it.  I am trying to get myself up and going.  Remember when I wasn't feeling very good about a month ago?  Well...something is still wrong and they don't know what it is.  I have gained twenty pounds in a month.  I know it isn't because I'm not exercising enough.  I'm also drinking a ton of water and waking my mom and dad up at two a.m. to go potty.  I am feeling very lethargic.  I just don't have that energy that I used to have.  I'm not limping anymore, but I'm not really moving very fast.  I still have my normal appetite, but I'm acting a little weird with normal things like my leash and the vacuum cleaner.  I would say they are making me more anxious than normal.  I am going back to the vet tomorrow afternoon.  I think they are going to have to run a blood panel.  I had a bacterial infection a month ago...   MAN....they see me a lot.  Once again I am asking if any of you have any suggestions to ask the vet about.  Remember that I had the skin stuff going on too...so I am thinking Cushings.  It seems like I am too young, but I don't know what else this could be.  I'm pretty nervous, but not nearly as upset as my mom and dad are.  You pet owners know how it goes.  I would appreciate some prayers.  I am starting on an irritable bowel food tomorrow.  There is so much going on in my little world.  I hope to be blogging again soon. 

Kootenai

Tuesday Talk: Diggity Dog Dig

   Today's topic involves a NAUGHTY (that's what Mom thinks) trait of mine.  I quite enjoy digging deep, dirty holes.   Especially when they are placed right smack in the middle of a beautifully landscaped yard.  I've done it since I was a puppy and I like it love it.  
    So Mom looked up the top ten things that most dog owners claim are the worst habits their dog does...and digging is number FOUR!  What can I say, Mom, I'm not that original.  Anyhow-then she found this funny article about some suggestions on how to get your dog to stop digging.  I HAD to blog about these because some of them are absolutely and positively RIDICULOUS.  I mean, if my mom did these things to me, I think I would run away and never come back.  Well...maybe I would come back after a few hours, but seriously, these ideas are plain mean. 

Ideas to try if your dog is digging in an unwanted place (the not so good ideas from that article.):

1.  Declaw your dog.   Some owners and vets argue that it is better that your dog lose its claws, than lose its life by digging out of the yard and being hit by a car.   ?

2.   Blow up some balloons and bury them in the spots where your dog digs in the yard.  When your dog digs....BOOM!  They won't do it again.  ?

3.  Turn on the sprinklers when your dog starts to dig in the yard, or stand out in the yard with a hose and spray your dog when your dog digs.  ?

4.  Bury your dog's poop in the spot in the yard where your pup digs.  When he/she finds it...she will quickly lose interest in digging.  ?


See?  Wouldn't you run away too?  I don't think I would take well to Mom spraying me with a hose.  Here are the logical suggestions from the article on how you can ACTUALLY stop your dog from digging in the yard:

1.  Have an actual sand area in your yard where it is fun for your dog to dig.  You can bury certain dog toys or dentabones in the area.  Make sure the area is big enough to keep your dog's attention.

2.  Exercise your dog before putting your dog into your beautifully landscaped yard. 

3.  Only leave your dog out in the yard when you are out there with them.  This allows you to correct incorrect behavior when it is occurring so your dog learns right from wrong. 

4.  Leave a treat Kong in your yard so your dog's attention is occupied on something else, rather than digging. 


What are your thoughts on this Tuesday Talk? Looking forward to hearing from you, furiends. 

A bone-worthy weekend!

Happy Saturday!

As you can see, I'm busy.  Have a great weekend! -Kootenai

   

Tuesday Talk: Positive Reinforcent Training Vs. Alpha (Dominance) Dog Training

 Hey furiends! The topic of today's Tuesday is Positive Reinforcent Training vs. Alpha (Dominance) Dog training.  Aka:  Victoria Stillwell from "It's Me or the Dog" vs. Cesar Millan from "Dog Whisperer." 

Alpha Training, also known as dominance training, is based on a study of wolves.  The idea of Alpha training is to establish a "pack order" within your household, with yourself (the human) as the pack leader.  Alpha trainers believe the most important part of leading the pack is attitude.  The attitude is usually referred to as 'calm and confident.'  The dog will then be worked into a submissive state, where the mind is capable of doing what the human is asking the dog to do. 

Positive Reinforcement Training is shown in detail on Victoria's show "It's Me or the Dog," featured on Animal Planet.  Positive Reinforcement Training is about rewarding your dog for correct action, rather than punishing your dog for incorrect action.  With this kind of training, you need to find something that motivates your dog.  Whether it's treats, affection, or his/her favorite toy. 

They both sound good, you say?  Many dog enthusiasts would say otherwise. 

Many dog enthusiasts in the United States are upset at the fact that "Dog Whisperer," a television series shown on the Nat. Geo Wild channel, is gaining viewers in exponential magnitude. WHY? Many trainers feel that Cesar Millan's approach to training is detrimental to the progress humans have made in training their canine companions.   The overall technique used by trainers today is positive reinforcement training.  Many animal enthusiasts feel that Cesar's method of Alpha training can lead the dog to be punished and act aggressively toward their human.  Most critics argue that Cesar's show makes the viewer feel the dog can be fixed in a matter of minutes, when in real life, it takes multiple days of work to fix a dog's bad behavior.  Some say that dogs are not wolves.  They say that the domestic dog is an entire animal apart from the wolf, and wolves do things domestic dogs don't, and domestic dogs do things that wolves don't.  Therefore, the study on wolves has been thrown out as a way to manage and train the domestic dog. 

This is an interesting and controversial topic in the dog world today.  Mom liked to watch both shows and idolizes both trainers.  She uses the positive reinforcement method herself, but has met many trainers that are very successful with the Alpha training.  Mom even had to use alpha training on my once because she tried and tried with the positive reinforcement idea with my food aggression, but it just didn't work.  She tried so many different approaches, but none of them resulted in less growling or snarling.  The first time I was flipped on my back was quite startling.  She had to do it a couple of times, but I did stop growling at her.  Now she uses the positive reinforcement to keep me from growling, but I did have to get shook up a little bit to understand that mom meant business. 

What about you furiends?  What are your likes and dislikes about these two training methods?  Do we have any furiends that view both shows, like I do?  Can't wait to hear your thoughts today!

A Saturday Smile

This morning I woke up and went to Land Of Paws.  Land of Paws is a delicious doggie barkery here in Kansas City.  They also sell lots of doggie things.  Ya know, like collars and foo-foo spray.  I ordered a chocolate covered strawberry dog biscuit and a doggie burrito.  Then mom stopped by the shelter here in Kansas City and signed a form to be a volunteer trainer for all those pups looking for forever homes.  We'll see if they call her and accept her for the volunteer position.  I think this would be a cool job for many reasons. 

1.  Mom would get to take me with her in the afternoons.

2.   All those doggies would have a greater chance of staying with their new owners if they had some manners.

3.  It will help Mom reach her dream of opening her own dog training facility someday.

You go Mom! 

(All those puppies are in for some boot-camp work and they don't even know it yet.  BOL!)

Happy Saturday furiends!

Wordless Wednesday: Rock Climbing with Dad

Tuesday Talk: Cloning your pet

Pet cloning in America.  That's the topic for today.  I'm not an expert on the topic.  Tuesday Talk is about bringing up big/and/or controversial topics in today's dog world.  Cloning is definitely a controversial topic.  Just for clarity, according to Dictionary.com, a clone is a cell, cell product, or organism that is genetically identical to the unit or individual from which it was derived. Pet cloning is going on in the world around us today. 

It does seem like a tempting idea, doesn't it?  The idea of immortality.  Immortality?  I am still trying to wrap my little dog brain around it.  Would I want my mom to clone me after my life here on Earth is over?  Before I could make any decisions I had to do a little research.  (I did say a LITTLE.) 

My Friend Again is company that offers a link to a Korean Pet Cloning Agency.  It features pictures and testimonials of people who are waiting and people who already have received their pets.  I found out that after your pet has been in Heaven for more than five days, it is impossible to receive live tissue.  It is best to get the live tissue needed when your dog is still alive.  Biopsy kits from Texas cost about 1500 dollars.  I guess I would just need a minor surgery to extract some live tissue.  Then they would send it back to the Texas company on ice.  You may be able to swab your dog's mouth too.  I said I did a little research. 

In an article called "Animal Cloning: Pros and Cons" by Lindsay Shugerman, Lindsay lists some of the pros and some of the cons of cloning your pet.  In brief summary this is what she stated:

Pros:

  1.  "Control over Uncertainty-" the creation of exact duplicates is allowed.  The stress of breeding and not knowing what traits will be dominated is eliminated. 

2.  Successful organ source with no rejection from the donor. 

Cons: 

1. Cloning is still very expensive and uncertain.  Odds of receiving your animal are still low.

2.  The certainty that animals that are cloned can be used as food is unknown.  We do not know the dangers involved with eating cloned animals or eggs of cloned animals.

3.  The ethical issues have been left unresolved. 

The "The Dark Side of Pet Cloning" is an article focusing on what happens to the failed new fidos that were cloned.  Failed as in they have deformities, heart failures, or they are aborted by the surrogate mothers before they come to full term. 

Robert Lanza, cloner extraordinaire and chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, had this to say about pet cloning,

Anyone who wants to have their pet cloned should ask themselves if they are willing to have one or two defective copies of "Fluffy" or "Spot" put down in order to get their pet back. Of course, cloning is associated with lots of abnormalities and genetic defects--and a significant percent of newborn animals die in the first few days or weeks of life.

Anyone who thinks they might be able to get Spot or Fluffy back is mistaken. Cloned animals have distinct personalities, just like identical twins. We cloned a herd of cattle several years ago--they were all cloned from a single individual. Yet they developed a social-dominance hierarchy just like a herd of ordinary dairy cows. The cloned animals exhibit the full spectrum of behavioral traits, from curious and inquisitive to timid and shy. There's no doubt about it: each cloned animal has its own unique, individual personality.

              Mom watched a show on television about dog cloning.  It brought tears to her eyes because those people loved their doggies so much.  She completely understood the loss, the feelings of utter loneliness, and grief associated with losing a pet.  One of her worst fears is losing me.  I'm her baby.  (Literally, they don't have kids yet.)  Mom loves me a lot, but she told me she could never clone me.  The process of life is the process of life.  Life is so precious because there is always the notion that today could be our last.  She said she loves me more than words can describe, but she couldn't hurt another puppy to have another chance with me.  The world works the way it does for a reason and when it is my time to go, I know she will find another RESCUE that will rescue her in a way I couldn't.  That's what is so special about having so many UNIQUE  pieces in the world.  They make a beautiful tapestry of color.  Besides, I will have a new job to do in Heaven.  And when my mom's time comes to cross the rainbow bridge, I will be there, tail wagging to show her the way to God.  To show her what I tried to show her all of those years on Earth:  how to love unconditionally-just like God. 

I'm so interested in hearing your bark-outs this week. 


       Kootenai

Monday Mischief: Executing Scrappy



Well...not really, but I did feel powerful at this moment.  What is your Monday Mischief? 

A long day when Mom and Dad are Working

I contemplate exactly how long they will be gone.

Too long....

So,

I find something I am "allowed" to do.... :(

But after awhile, bacon is utterly boring.

So,

I sometimes play hide and seek by myself.

BUT...I can only scare myself so much.

So,

I try to grab some much needed rest after my mind has been hard at work.

But I don't sleep very well when I am not on my Mom's feet.

So,

I decide I will make a last attempt of making my cutest face in order to make them leave work to come home and love up on me.

So,

My mom and Dad come home to give me hugs and kisses. It's time to go to the dog park! I hope tomorrow is Saturday?!

Tuesday Talk: Dog Obesity in America

     This "Tuesday Talk" thing is new, but I am going to try to bark with you every Tuesday about interesting and intriguing topics among the dog community.  I wanted to start with an important topic today:  EXERCISE.  As the United States is growing more and more overweight, so are American dogs.  This topic first popped out at me when I visited the veterinary clinic last month.  I saw an article published in Bark magazine about dogs becoming more and more obese.  Due to the growing number of dogs that are becoming obese, the average life expectancy for a dog is decreasing. 

    It is always sad when our humans deal with weight issues.  Sometimes it's by choice and,sometimes obesity occurs due to factors that our humans cannot control.  It is VERY SAD when our humans make a choice for US (the dogs) to become obese.  My mom had a friend once who had to have a dog.  My mom explained to her that there are a lot of responsibilities that go along with owning a fuzzy friend, but my mom's friend insisted that she knew all of the responsibilities because she had grown up with two dogs.  Mom was so happy for her when she brought home her new puppy.  Mom was happy for a  whole TWO DAYS.  I watched in dog-horror as the puppy was let to run free about the house to chew live electrical cords and carve holes into the walls.  My mommy never would have done that to me!  But being the nice person my mom was, she thought her friend was letting the puppy run about in IGNORANCE.  So mom bought sour apple spray to spray on all of the electrical cords so that puppy didn't get a shock big enough to send him to the moon.  Mom soon realized, though, that her friend wasn't letting the puppy run around in ignorance, but rather in laziness. 
     That dog grew up to be a spooky mess.  He is scared of children, cars, even going to the bathroom in the dark at night.  He has never been exposed to anything, but his own house.  He is two years old and still soils the house.  He is overweight, yet low on nutrients because his food supply for a month is the cheapest it can get.  His mom never takes him ANYWHERE. 
     Mom is still sad about her friend.  She finds it so unbelievable that a person would get a dog to neglect it.  Dog obesity can be a form of neglect.  In order for a dog to not gain weight, it needs thirty minutes of stimulating exercise per day.  This means thirty minutes of sprints!  If you want your puparoo to get exercise without sprinting, then you need to take them on an hour long walk.  Simply putting your puppy into the yard isn't necessarily exercise.  Most dogs become very relaxed in their own space.  Most dogs just lay down and SUN BATHE in their yard.  Hey...I would too! 

     Being an active and responsible owner is so important.  I know all of my blog furiends are always going above and beyond for their dogs.  I mean...hello...they have dog blogs.  But, in all seriousness, the neglect of exercising your dog is worse than humans neglecting themselves.  Why?!  Dogs don't have a choice about being active or not.  They follow their leaders.  I know my mom doesn't always feel like going on an hour walk, but she does it because she knows that she has a responsibility to take care of me, and that means taking care of my health.  Blogger furiends...help me spread the word about keeping healthy pets and dog obesity in America!  Make sure and leave me some "Tuesday Talk" bark-outs about your thoughts on this post! 

Hike with ya soon,

     Kootenai

Pawesome Blogger Award

I received the Pawesome Blogger award from Basset Momma!  I am so honored and grateful to have received this award.  I am pretty new to the blogger world and am always so excited to get awards.  It means a lot coming from Basset Momma because she writes a fantastic blog  everyday (something I aspire to do SOMEDAY)!  If you read this and you haven't checked out her page, you need to blog hop over to Freddie and Gloria's house.  I think they were up to some Pawesome Monday Mischief today!

In order to accept this award, I must pass it along to 6 blogs that bring me fun, love, laughs and furiendship.
I give this award to:  (In no particular order)

Gracie Owns Me  Gracie owns me too, okay?  I can't help it if her little bossy bark is really fun to listen to.  But in all seriousness...I really like to hop over to Gracie's dog blog every day and check out her fun photos and interesting adventures!  All us dogs could learn a few things about how to wrap our humans around our little paws. 

Pawfect Days!  This is a fairly new blog that I have been checking out, BUT as soon as you reach the page, you will see just one of the many reasons why I LOVE this blog.  (My look-alike is very cute.)  Anywho...GREAT BLOG.  It brings me fun and laughter!

Gospel of Goose  I would like to give this award to Goose because I enjoy reading about the Goose adventures everyday!  He has great pictures and is now posting videos!  BOL!  And last, but not least...Goose successfully kidnaps cats.  The End. 

Bicontinental Dachshund  I would like to give this award to this little gal because she knows where Bozeman, Montana is.  Just kidding...kind of .  I know that you also received this award from Nola, so you don't need to post the award again, if you don't want to.  But I also love your bicontinental adventures. 

2 Brown Dawgs   Ahhhhhhh.  Who doesn't want to see cute puppy pictures?  These guys have a new little Freighter.  Check out the blog to see what I mean!  I really enjoy reading this blog.  They make your tail wag daily. 


Yorkie Tails   I would't be much of a sister if I didn't give this award to my sister.  I started my blog because of her and I couldn't get on blogger without looking at her Pawesome daily blog.  She writes with VOICE and CONVICTION.  She tells those humans just what is up.  Ya know? 



Those are my picks!  If you have already received the Pawesome Blog award from another furiend, you don't need to post it to another six or eight furiends. But, you most certainly CAN.  It will help it keep going.  But if you do know any new blogs that are FANTASTIC and trying to gain followers...it would be great if you would award the award to them! 

Hike with you soon! 

       Kootenai

"And I took the Road Less Travelled By--With the Biggest Stick"



"And I took the road less travelled by..."

With the biggest Stick

But stopped a moment to ponder if it were in fact the biggest one

Robert Frost, what do you think I should do?

Hiking the Ozarks

Before I journeyed back to Montana at Christmas time, I went on a hike in the Ozark Mountains.  I now live in Kansas, so I miss the majestic mountains.  So do Mom and Dad.  We drove ten hours (five out and five back) in one day---just to go for a five mile hike!  We are crazy, aren't we? 

My overall conclusion:  I like the Ozark Mountains.  They are very SPONGY.  I can run, and run, and run  and my muscles don't get that tired.  The leaves make it extra squishy too.  Even though many of these mountains are ROLLING and and not STEEP, I did manage to find several fun things to play on. 

Here's the "Queen of the Mountain" game that I play by myself.

I also like to find those pesky little squirrels.

Have any of you furiends ever been to the Ozark Mountains?  Any hiking suggestions? 

Hoping to hike again soon,

Kootenai

Camouflage

Some days you just need to BLEND IN. 

Some days you just need to be UNNOTICED.

Some days you need to WATCH and LEARN.

Some days you just need CAMOUFLAGE.

Wordless Wednesday: A Montana Log Bed

Montana Lounging:  Sincerest thanks go out to my sister Scrappy Doo for her generous donation to my recreational life fund.  Ruff!